Cognitive Distortions AKA Chatting Shit

Cognitive Distortions AKA Chatting Shit

Snapchat PaulaIn my last post, The Stories We Tell Ourselves, I gave you a general overview of cognitive distortions, or, as I like to call it, how we like to chat shit to ourselves (OMG, I’m so professional, I swear I’m qualified. Look, you can trust me with your mental health, honest). In this post, I want to go into a bit more detail about the types of cognitives distortions we may experience and that hold us back from allowing us to enjoy life as much as we can. There may be one thing that stops us, just puts the brakes on a happy life, and we know what it is, but we refuse to stop the behaviour that causes it because our faulty thinking tells us that behaviour is more important than anything else.

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The stories we tell ourselves

The stories we tell ourselves

paula at 16Once upon a time, there was a loser called Paula, who could never be trusted to do anything right, who was a failure at everything, and who would never achieve anything any good. I would live with my parents forever, probably gain 500lbs and they would have to take care of me and no one would love me. Ugh. Pretty catastrophic sounding picture, huh? That’s around the time when I was genuinely felt friendless and alone, slept about 20 hours a day, and I was 17 and diagnosed with clinical depression. So now, let’s fast forward 30 odd years later.

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Happy Awkward Moments Day

Happy Awkward Moments Day

Happy Awkward Moments Day!

Seriously, it is. And I do mean you should be happy. Remember that time in school when you called the teacher “mum”? Or that time you said goodbye to a friend in the street and realised you were both going the same way, and walked along in awkward silence? How often have you lain awake at night, torturing yourself over moments like those, that were like, a million years ago? (more…)

Panic Day; don’t panic!

Panic Day; don’t panic!

It’s Panic Day.

It really is. And I told my husband I’d forgotten to schedule a post for it, and he did a quick, sharp intake of breath, and looked all concerned. Piss taking bugger.

But the point of Panic Day is to recognise how bad it is for us, and that stress can knock years off your life; it’s a genuine reason to practice self care, and generally being a bit nicer to ourselves. In a world where we are constantly available and switched on, this seems impossible, but I’ve just had a radical idea. Put your phone down, in another room, and ignore it. You’ll be fine. *twitch*

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No one is born feeling bad about themselves

No one is born feeling bad about themselves

No one is born feeling bad about themselves.


And yet, every day I see clients that have such a downer on themselves, it’s no wonder their confidence is rocked to its core.

Before we knew anything about other people’s opinions, judgements, thoughts and feelings, we were pretty much ok with ourselves. Unless, like me, you’re born with something like Autism that makes you feel apart and separate, you’re pretty much at one with everyone else.

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Be Heard Day

Be Heard Day

Did you know it’s Be Heard Day?

It made me wonder. Do you listen to everything you hear? And do you believe everything you are told? Do you believe everything you tell yourself? Just because you think it doesn’t make it true
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